Chantel Markle-Perricone


Canada Research Chair in Wildlife Ecohydrology and Global Change

Tier 2 - 2023-08-01
University of Waterloo
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council



Research summary


Canada has the second-largest intact natural landscape in the world, yet the country is facing a biodiversity crisis. Due to multiple stressors, including climate change and land use practices, reptiles are more endangered than any group of vertebrates in Canada. As Canada Research Chair in Wildlife Ecohydrology and Global Change, Dr. Chanel Markle-Perricone aims to further understand the multi-scale interactions between threatened wildlife, particularly reptiles, and their landscapes in an era of global change.

In particular, she and her research team are shedding light on the effects of climate-mediated disturbances on habitat use and function, developing techniques to detect and predict change in climate refugia (the areas that remain protected from alterations to the climate), and enhancing wildlife resilience to these changes through habitat restoration. Their research could provide the knowledge we need to halt and even reverse the global decline of reptiles, positioning Canada as a leader in biodiversity conservation.